RANCHI: Speculations are rife over former Jharkhand minister and independent MLA Saryu Roy's homecoming into BJP after he made his stand clear to support the party candidate Deepak Prakash in the Rajya Sabha elections. Legislative Party leader Babulal Marandi, who recently joined hands with the BJP, has also reportedly appealed Roy to return and work together.
A veteran BJP leader, Roy contested from Jamshedpur East as an independent candidate and defeated sitting CM Raghubar Das, who was representing the sear for the past 25 years. He was denied the party ticket in 2019 assembly polls from Jamshedpur West.
On Saturday, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey tweeted that Roy has accepted his request to vote for Deepak Prakash as his first priority in RS polls for which he is thankful to him. Later, in his reply, Roy said that, “Nishikant ji’s tweet matters. I am no more confused. Better get over the confusion rather let it be worst confounded.”
Roy’s gesture is seen as a positive sign among BJP leaders which further triggered speculations that he will be joining the party sooner or later. “I had told him earlier also that if he gets short of one vote in RS polls, I will definitely vote for him. We have a good relationship for the last 25 years, hence there should be no any confusion about my support,” said Roy.
He, however, denied any such possibility of joining the party but at the same time said that nobody knows what will happen in the near future. “Since, I am enjoying my life as an independent candidate; it’s next to impossible that I will be joining BJP. What will happen in politics tomorrow, nobody knows but as of now, I am not joining BJP,” said Roy.
Incidentally, Roy has repeatedly been appealing Congress party to withdraw its candidate Shahjada Anwar saying it does not have the required numbers to win a
seat in RS Polls and will only promote horse-trading for which Jharkhand is known for.
Support of at last 27 legislators is required to win a seat in 79 members Jharkhand Assembly after Chief Minister Hemant Soren resigned from Dumka constituency and Bermo MLA Rajendra Kumar Singh died after a prolonged illness.
Shibu Soren is all set to get nominated from JMM that already has 29 MLAs. The party needs only 27 MLAs to win a seat for Rajya Sabha in Jharkhand.
BJP, that currently has 26 MLAs, has the support of AJSU and two independent MLAs Saryu Roy and Amit Yadav to reach the magic number of 27 required for winning a
Rajya Sabha seat in Jharkhand.
Congress, on the other hand, has 15 MLAs and if somehow it manages to get the support of one MLA each from RJD and CPI (ML), Pradeep Yadav and Bandhu Tirkey and
remaining two MLAs of JMM, it has only 21 MLAs.